Beneficial olive oil

Scientists have just found out what gourmets have always known – that there is something special about fresh extra-virgin olive oil.



A tasting experience at a molecular gastronomy meeting in Sicily led United States Monell Center biologist Gary Beauchamp to analyse freshly pressed extra-virgin olive oil, in which he found a chemical that acted like ibuprofen.

He and his team named their discovery oleocanthal and found that, although it has a different chemistry, its effect is similar to that of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory compound in the commercial painkiller, they wrote in the science journal Nature. The discovery is significant because scientists believe that inflammation plays an important part in a variety of chronic diseases like stroke, heart disease, and breast and lung cancer.

[Source: The Star]

Categories: Article, Malaysia, Olive